She Tried to Poison Me, but My Plant Died First! novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: Stairwell

I wiped my face on the sheets and stood up.

"Don't go in there angry," Rocco said. "She'll see it."

"I'm not going in angry."

I took the handkerchief out of my vest and unzipped the pocket on the other side.

"I'm going in as the daughter who finally remembers."

His jaw worked.

"If she touches you..."

"She's going to hug me. She loves a hug."

He understood before I finished.

He took the vest's strap in his fist and tugged it tight across my chest.

"I'll be on the stairs," he said. "Third landing. Shout once and I'm there."

I walked back down the hall to the cardiac ward with my chin up.

The older capo saw me coming and stepped into the doorway.

"Miss Gattuso, I told you."

"Tell her I know about the green coat."

He stared at me.

Then he went inside, and a minute later he came back out and held the door.

My mother sat in a plastic chair by the window with a paper cup in both hands.

Fiora sat beside her in a white cardigan, red-eyed, with her knees together.

"Oh, sweetheart," Mom said, and set the cup down.

"I've been remembering things," I said.

I let my voice shake.

It wasn't hard.

"At the shelter, the nurse said a woman in a green coat came to ask about me. I've been trying to see her face. All I get is a smell. Roses, and something like soap."

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